Welcome to the last meeting for 2014 – half way there!
Today we welcomed David Breaden – great to see you David.
Our guest speakers were from the Karen community – Tha Wah, Ahtu, Maw, Saw Htoo, along with Matthew Parkinson (Community Care Director at the Bendigo Baptist Church) to speak about the HOPE project.
A good number of people met at Pat’s pub for another fellowship evening on Tuesday night. It was decided to meet again before the end of the year for anyone who is around. The next gathering will be Tuesday 30thDec from 5pm.
Rob thanked everyone who helped out at the Council Christmas breakfast. Around 330 people were fed – even if the strawberries had to be cut into 8!
Doug reported that he and Lindsay collected 50+ desks and chairs (in great condition) from the Catholic school in Kerang. They will be sent to East Timor in the next container.
Paul presented the Rotary knowledge segment today (last week was too full). He followed up from the cluster Foundation meeting. Paul’s message was that large amounts of money didn’t need to be donated to Foundation by individuals to be effective. Becoming involved in the Every Rotarian, Every Year (EREY) program was one way of providing consistent support to the Foundation. The EREY program is a donation of $100 a year. If you want to get involved in this program, contact Frank Leigh who coordinates it
His email is: frankleigh@bigpond.com
We presented Ronnie with some flowers to thank her for feeding us during the year. Thanks Ronnie. She will be back on deck for our first meeting next year on Jan 7th at BRiT.
The HOPE Project (Sharing HOPE along the Thai/Burma Border)
Tha Wah and Matthew Parkinson presented the background to the project and what they are trying to achieve.
Tha Wah came to Australia 5 years ago after spending 10 years in the refugee camp in Thailand. When he arrived in the camp (at 17 and alone) it was relatively small and he was able to do some schooling. When he finished school, he volunteered at the medical clinic for 12 months, then he as sent away to be trained as a medic. He returned to the camp after 18 mths training and worked in the clinic until he was granted a visa to come to Australia. During this time the camp grew to a very large number and this made it very difficult to provide adequate health care – (malaria being the major problem).
Tha Wah gave a very sobering account of the difficulties the Karen community face in the refugee camp, but more so the displaced people who are on the Thai/Burma border who cannot get into the camp. They have been pushed to this area from their homelands by the military and have extremely little – no health care, no education and very poor housing and food.
His first year in Australia was spent learning the English language (which is a very difficult language for him to learn). Tha Wah couldn’t forget the people left behind and he wanted to do something to help.
Many of the Karen community in Bendigo have made the Bendigo Baptist Church their spiritual home and the church has been looking at what they can do to support the community on the border.
They have partnered with a small village (Ke Ma Pyu) just inside the border and want to support them to build some dormitories for children who have travelled from remote areas to receive an education. The community identified lack of education as one of the main issues preventing the community moving forward.
The HOPE Project is trying to raise $5000 towards this goal.
Thanks Tha Wah for sharing your story.
Merry Christmas everyone – keep safe and see you all next year. Cathie.
The first meeting back for 2015 will be the 7th of January 2015. Ronnie is back on deck from the 5th, therefor available for a BRIT breakfast.
I know that a number of our members will be going on holidays after Christmas could you please send the dates of your leave to brucefraser@eftel.net.au to help me with rostering.
DIRECT FROM THE OCTOBER BOARD MINUTES. THE FOLLOWING DATES THERE WILL BE NO MEETINGS AT BRIT.
24/12/2014 (Christmas Eve)
31/12/2014 (Christmas break)
28/01/2015 (Replaced by Australia Day Event)
Have a very merry and safe Christmas and see you all in the new year.
